Amp Question

[gilmourguy]

I just got a crate xt30rc amp and it has an open back. Is there a reason for that? Does it affect the sound?

[Daniel Sorbera]

an closed back generally produces a tighter/fuller/heavier bottom end. where as a open back wont be as "powerful" in the bottom end but it will fill the room better. So it's a trade off. If your into rock/metel get a closed back.

[Drak]

Tube amps have open backs to let them breathe to keep the tubes cool. (Old School anyway)

Don't know about Crates or your amp tho.

Open back and closed back do sound different. With the wrong speakers or kind of amp, either can sound like dogsh*t, especially closed backs. They can sound like dead, lifeless, plywood corpses if the amp and speakers aren't tuned to 'match' the enclosure properly.

[KeithHowell]

Have a look here: Open vs Closed back

[Paul Marossy]

I've owned one closed back solid state combo and three open back tube combos. All of the open back combos sounded a lot better than that muffled sounding closed back amp. I'm sure the fact that the closed back amp was solid state had something to do with that as well. Although, the bass reponse on the closed back amp was pretty healthy from what I remember....

[Steve Vai]

I've had a solid state open back cab, a solid state closed back cab, a tube open back cab, and a tube closed back cab. I like the sound of the tube head with the closed back 4x10 cab the best. It has punchy bass response that was better then the other cabs.

Edited January 4, 2005 by Steve Vai

[lovekraft]

The reason most tube combo amps were originally designed open-backed is because the tubes generate a lot of heat, and it has to go somewhere. Sound was a secondary consideration. We tend to forget that early amps were designed to be manufactured quickly and cheaply, and a lot of the things we've come to prize about them are the results of economic or industrial expedience, not sound quality.

So long as the cabinet was designed to match the speakers, either design can sound great! In general, sealed cabs have more bass response, but aren't as efficient, all other things being equal.

[ansil]

nice clean response there lk.

[darren wilson]

There seems to be a growing trend toward ported closed-back cabinets these days as well. My Genz Benz G-Flex 212 is ported and it allows more of that bass "punch" to come through the front of the cab. It sounds huge.

[Paul Marossy]

Yeah, when you port the cab, things change...

[Drak]

I've got my old 15" EV (35 lb speaker!) ..in such a ported enclosure.

I believe it was made for bass use, but I use it for guitar anyway.

Sealed-back ported bottom old Fender cab. Works great with my sealed back 4-10 Marshall cab.

But I have scads of open-backed combos too. I like both sounds, but generally prefer open-backed cabs unless I'm playing rock or metal or some such thing.